xpect to stand straight up in 'em, this here
Yankee patrol came 'long an' dogged me right into a bunch o' our boys they
had rounded up. I had me some weeks in a prison stockade, which ain't, I'm
tellin' you, no way for to spend any livin' time. Then this here war was
over, an' I was loose. No hoss, no nothin'. Some of th' boys got to
talkin' 'bout trailin' back to Texas, tryin' out some ranchin' in the bush
country. A lotta wild stuff down there--nobody's been runnin' brands on
anythin' much since '61. We planned to get a herd of mavericks, drive up
into Kansas or Missouri, an' sell. A couple of th' boys had run stuff in
that way for th' army, even swum 'em across the Mississippi. It would
maybe give us a start. An'--well, there weren't nothin' else to do. So we
tried it." Anse sat staring down at the water lapping at his lean middle.
His was a very thin body, the ribs standing out beneath the skin almost as
harshly as did the weal of the scar on his shoulder.

"And it didn't work?"

"Well, it might've. I ain't sayin' it won't for some hombres. Only we run
into trouble. Texas ain't Texas no more; it's th' Fifth Military District.
Any man what fought for th' Confederacy ain't got any rights. It's worse'n
an Injun war. We got us our herd, leastwise th' beginnin' of one. An' that
was back-breakin' work--we was feelin' as beat as when we run out of
Tennessee after Franklin. Only we kept to it, 'cause it would give us a
stake. So we started drivin' north, an' they jumped us."

"Who?"

"Yankees--th' brand what probably set at home an' let others do th' real
fightin'--ready to come in an' take over once th' shootin' was done with.
They grabbed th' herd. Shot Will Bachus when he stood up to 'em, an' made
it all legal 'cause they had a tin-horn deputy ridin' with 'em. Well, we
got him anyway an' two or three of th' others. But then they called in th'
army, an' we had to ride for it. Scattered so they had more'n one trail to
follow. But they posted us as 'wanted' back there. So I come whippin' a
mighty tired hoss outta Texas, an' I ain't plannin' on goin' back to any
Fifth Military District!"

"Any chance they'll push a star after you here?"

"No. I'm jus' small stuff, not worth botherin' 'bout by their reckonin',
now I ain't got anythin' left them buzzards can pick offen m' bones.
They's sittin' tight an' gittin' fat right there."

"Then it's all set." Drew tossed Anse a towel. "Climb out and we'll get
started!"

"Doin